


war isn't coming (it's already here)

by jacksonwng



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Fluff and Angst, always-a-girl!Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 04:16:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1674398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksonwng/pseuds/jacksonwng
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the 1940s, Steve Rogers fought the Horseman and tied their lives together.</p>
<p>Now, in the 21st century, the reality of what that means becomes startling obvious. An organisation called SHIELD was set up to prepare for when the time finally came, for when the Captain awoke, for when the Horseman returned.</p>
<p>Sleepy Hollow AU. Based on the TV series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	war isn't coming (it's already here)

**Author's Note:**

> Based off Neera's wonderful artwork (link to be added later). I follow the main plot of the pilot episode of Sleepy Hollow so if you haven't seen it, but want to, there are spoilers for that ahead. This was just a lot of fun to write and I really hope you enjoy it :)

 

When Steve awoke it was dark.

There was none of that sleepy haze, the kind that eases you into being awake. No, this was sudden and abrupt and it made him jerk, mouth gapped, and his chest shaking as it desperately sucked in air. His eyes were wide, diluted, and darting wildly around the room. It was just shadows, with a high pitched beeping piercing through what had once been silence. At the opposite end, there was a door, with light seeping through the cracks in the hinges. It made it look like a gateway into another world, a world that wasn’t his own.

He was alert. He was suspicious. His last memories were fuzzy at best. Veiled and painful, yes, he could remember that everything hurt like nothing he had ever experienced before. He had been fighting, everything glum, greyed over greens and browns, and...his chest. His hands grasped at the centre of his chest, at the baggy shirt over his front, and his breathing shook. He had been shot, he...

He had died.

A figure cast a shadow on the other side of the door and it swung open. Steve wanted to run and hide more than anything, but his legs were unresponsive and his hands shook and there was no way he would be able to leave the bed. A light was clicked on to the right of him, thankful dim as he blinked rapidly against the atmospheric change.

“I can’t believe-”

“-after all this time, he just-”

“-awake now-”

“It must mean-”

“Not now,” a sharp voice, a woman’s, strong with authority, ordered over the whispers.

“But-”

“Cap has just woken up. Give him time to breathe,” the voice said again. It lowered a little when she continued, “Banner, how is he?”

“ _Alive_ ,” a quiet male voice replied from Steve’s left and he snapped his head around to see him. A little hunched over, the man adjusted his glasses as he moved away from the screens, the machines that god, Steve was attached to, he could feel the needles embedded in his skin and he just wanted to claw them out, and turned to Steve. He smiled professionally. “Captain Rogers, I’m Doctor Bruce Banner. I’m going to need to do some health checks okay? Make sure everything is in working order.”

“I...” Steve croaked out, “I was dead.”

“Not dead, it was more like a deep coma,” Bruce explained soothingly and it looked as if he were more than happy to explain the concept of a deep coma and all that it entailed when another voice interrupted.

“There’s time for that later Bruce,” she assured. Her voice was different from the first, lighter and soothing rather than the one of brash command. “Captain Rogers, please allow Doctor Banner to do his checks.”

“Where am I?” Steve insisted instead.

“It’s 2014 Cap,” the first woman spoke again, and her boots clicked on the floor as she stepped closer. She was mostly shrouded in darkness, the light only highlighting the curls in her hair and the curve of her hip or the sharpness of her elbows as she crossed her arms across her chest. “The 21st century. You’ve been asleep for a long time.”

 

*

 

Captain Rogers answered when questions were aimed at him but mostly he kept quiet. Probably trying to deal with the news that Dahlia and Bruce were carefully easing him into, Toni guessed. She had read the reports written by Peggy Carter when she first joined SHIELD, the detailed retelling of the Super Soldier experiment, of the special covert group within the American Military known as the Howling Commandos fighting against something that was more than human, the final attack. She had heard the story before of course, from her father, Howard who impressed upon his daughter the importance of the Captain and SHIELD to stop the end of the world. She hadn’t really believed it. As she grew older, she only felt resentment for the whole thing, the world, the person that her father cared about more than his own wife and daughter.

Toni remembered being eight and searching for him, finding him in the Captain’s room. He was just sitting there, like a friend would sit at the bedside of a sick friend, and she had been struck by how _alive_ Steve looked. Like a sleeping prince, she was embarrassed to recall, no matter how true it was. When she had been caught, she had been reprimanded for going to where she wasn’t allowed and she hadn’t gone back to the room until a month ago, when Fury had given her charge of the Captain. It said a lot about how far she had come, she supposed. When she had first joined SHIELD, after her parent’s death, she and Fury had rubbed each other the wrong way. Back then, he wouldn’t have given her charge over a toothbrush, let alone someone as important to their cause as Steve Rogers.

“It seems that you’re in full health,” Bruce’s voice broke through Tony’s thoughts, and she looked up from her shoes to see Bruce smiling encouragingly down at Steve.

She had ushered Natasha and Clint from the room, giving them orders to report to Coulson and Nick, in an attempt to give Steve some space. The two leaders had stayed back when the sirens sounded to do their own search. There was only one reason why the Cap had woken up, and it wasn’t good.

“Does that mean that he’s ready for duty?” Toni asked.

“Well, figuratively, yes but,” Bruce started uncertainly.

Toni smiled understandingly. “We all know that we don’t have that luxury.”

“So I guess the war isn’t over,” Steve commented with a tight smile from where he was sitting.

“More like ours has started again after a hiatus,” Toni corrected. She took a step closer and tilted her head curiously, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Getting shot,” he replied bluntly, “Why?”

“We’re all told the story, of that day,” Toni told him, “You and the Horseman fought in a battle to the death and you cut his head off.”

“And he shot me,” Steve interjected.

“And you didn’t die,” Toni continued, “You almost did. Brink of death, but Peggy saved you.”

Steve sat up a little straighter. “Peggy?”

“She’s kind of the one who founded this,” Dahlia explained and gestured around them.

“She was my girl,” Steve said quietly.

Toni quirked an eyebrow. “Your girl?”

“Well, almost, we...she...it was never official,” Steve murmured, cheeks blotting pink.

“Huh, Aunt Peggy certainly kept that out of her report,” Toni mused, mostly to herself, and then continued loudly, “Did you know what she was?”

“What she was?” Steve repeated slowly.

“A witch, she was a witch Rogers,” She told me.

Steve stared at her and then shook his head. “No. No, she...she’s not. She wasn’t,” he corrected himself, closing his eyes against the tightness in his chest, “She would have told me.”

“No one knew,” Bruce reassured him quickly, “According to the story, it was only when they found you, that she...you know. When you killed the Horseman, you’re bloodlines merged-”

“And then you were kept, watched over, because we knew that if you ever woke up, so did the Horseman, so I need you to focus okay?” Toni stated firmly, “This is more important than whatever secrets you're almost girlfriend kept from you.”

“Toni,” Dahlia scolded, frowning.

“The world’s about to end,” Toni reminded. Her eyes never looked away from Steve, and he watched back. He seemed to regard her, his expression tight. Maybe should could have been more delicate about it, could have been more understanding of how Steve must be feeling. She could only imagine that, but she had no time for him to wallow in what he had missed, in what he had lost. She would give him that time later, she promised. “And right now,” she continued, “he’s the only one who can defeat the Horseman.”

 

*

 

Steve didn’t know what he thought of Fury. The man had been introduced to him as the Director and he had shaken Steve’s hand. Dressed all in black, similar to how the two agents from before - Romanov and Barton, he could remember from the initial haze - had dressed, and with an eye patch securely fastened over his left eye, he spoke with a gruff voice and declared that there might be hope yet if Toni’s delicate brand of hostile welcoming that had the dark haired agent squawking indignantly.

“I assume, you know why you’re here?” Fury pressed.

“It was explained,” Steve responded, deciding not to mention how overwhelmed he felt by everything that he wasn’t sure he truly understood, though he understood the gravity of it all.

“Good,” Fury nodded, “Then I don’t have any problems about sending you out into the field, if Doctor Banner has cleared you of course.”

“Into the field?” Steve repeated.

Toni took a step closer and narrowed her eyes. “Already?”

Fury glanced to her. “You didn’t exactly expect the Horseman to hold back did you?”

“Well, being brought back to the land of the living could have at least disoriented him,” Toni grumbled. She sighed as if defeated. “Where to?”

“Second and Third.  Coulson will accompany you,” Fury told them.

Steve couldn’t see the problem with this - he had never been part of a one man operation before and the familiarity of teamwork was almost enough to settle the uncomfortable tightness in the pit of his stomach, at least not _everything_ had changed - but clearly Toni did when she groaned far too loudly and overdramatically to be considered appropriate when speaking to one’s boss.

“Coulson, really?” she whined.

“Yes Coulson,” Fury mocked, “Someone has to smooth things out with the locals. And that person certainly isn’t you, not after last time.”

“He had it coming,” Toni insisted and Steve had a feeling he was glimpsing into an old conversation, one that had been repeated many times.

“The mission sir?” Steve led them back on track. Work. Work he was used to, work he could throw himself into. Work was where he had to focus on the good he had to do, and not on the new reality that he couldn’t quite believe was real and the secrets that had been kept and the heavyweight in his chest that everyone he knew and loved was gone. Yes, work.

Fury drew his eyes away from Toni to meet the Captain’s gaze. “Your mission is to survey the scene and make sure this is our guy.”

“And if it is?” Steve implored.

“Then Peggy was right and we’ve got even bigger problems on our hands.”

 

*

 

Toni made gagging gestures over Coulson’s shoulder when he finally got to meet the Captain. The man’s dreams had come true, that much Toni was sure and she couldn’t help but fall back into her default action of teasing her handler about his not so subtle crush on the superhero that was Captain Rogers. Phil had only been a child when SHIELD was started, had only known about the Captain through war stories that his uncle told him and the comic book franchise that sparked from America’s Golden Boy. He idolised Steve, as most within the compound did, hard to help with all the stories, all the promises that the Great Captain was supposed to keep, all the hopes that rested on his shoulders, Toni reluctantly admitting to herself only that she was one of those people.

Even now, she found herself distracted by the bunching of muscles in his out of time clothes - he had refused to change and Toni didn’t have the heart to push him on the issue, not so early on anyway - and the way that he dimpled even when he was so clearly straining a smile for Phil’s benefit.

She almost forgot to feign innocence when Phil turned towards her, his expression unimpressed and perhaps a little embarrassed.

“I’m driving,” he declared and snatched the keys from her hand, moving swiftly towards the driver’s side.

She thought about fighting it but decided that this time, she would let it slide and gestured towards the vehicle. “After you,” she said, when Steve doesn’t move and just eyes the SUV uncertainly.

“Cars were a lot...smaller...before,” he trailed off.

“Cars before didn’t have bulletproof glass,” Toni tapped the side window to prove her point, as if the thudding echo had any meeting at all, “They’re safer now. It’s like...driving in a tank.”

Steve shot her a strange look. “Weirdly, that doesn’t make me feel safe.”

“Just get in the car Rogers,” Toni ordered, “We have a crime scene to investigate, before the grubby donut munchers get their sprinkle covered hand over them.”

“This is why I’m joining you,” Coulson pointed out, expression stern.

Toni doesn’t even try to act like she’s probably chastised.

The SHIELD base was under an old military base - the one where it had all begun - and the car rumbled along the gravelled path as it left. Toni watched Steve through the rear view mirror, watched the way that his eyes turned from surprised to sad as he stared at the derelict lands that had once, in Steve’s time, been bright and bustling with the energy of the armoured forces.

“You can have a look around later, if you want,” Toni added hastily. Steve looked at her and blinked, and there was that forced smile again.

“If you don’t mind,” he responded simply, before his gaze slowly returned to the scenery passing beyond the window once more.

Toni shuffled in her seat at the passengers’ side and Phil’s eyes flickered to her. The general concern for the Captain’s wellbeing was only noticeable to someone who had known the man for years, had trained with him, had seem him react the exact way when Natasha or Bruce or even Toni, despite their differences, was put into the line of fire. Toni wanted to be irritated that this guy, this _stranger_ , had managed to encourage the same reaction so quickly, but she couldn’t, not when she could feel her own worry worming its way into the back of her mind and settling there.

The journey was quiet. Phil knew the town of Sleepy Hollow better than anyone, knew all the shortcuts and the old alleyways that would get them to the churchyard faster. Villagers crowded the streets and whispered followed the black vehicle, as they always did. In such a small town, it was evadible. Toni liked it there. It was quaint, small and homey in comparison to the mansion that was still her in her name and sat as a refugee for soldiers returning to civilian life in the centre of New York City. She preferred it, even if most of the inhabitants - with the acceptance of the baker’s wife, Ms Danvers, who seemed to have a soft spot for her - would prefer she wasn’t there to begin with.

“There used to be a stable there,” Steve mused, breaking the silence and pointing towards the building that stood tall at the end of the road.

“Still was up until 2002 when it became a Starbucks,” Phil told him.

Steve nodded, although Toni was almost certain he had no idea what Starbucks actually was. There was a pause and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“That’s a star bucks too,” he pointed out.

“Yup,” Toni nodded.

“...Is there a law?”

Toni snorted and had to cover her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. Considering the fact that Phil was full out grinning and one side of Steve’s mouth had quirked upwards, Toni guessed she had failed. She wasn’t sure she cared about that though.

By the time they had arrived at the crime scene, cordoned off with ghastly yellow crime scene tape, the atmospheric lift had dropped once more. They had a job to do, after all. Toni moved straight into the ramble, ignoring the waving calls of how they weren’t supposed to be here. Phil sighed and did what he was expected to do - run public relations to stop Toni from causing another incident. Steve paused at the yellow barrier before carefully and awkwardly ducking under it and following the agent.

“Can I ask why none of these officers seem to like you?” Steve questioned.

Toni answered, “No one likes to have their territory encroached” because that was the simplest of answers.

Steve could have asked something else, but if he did, Toni had no intention of hearing it. The dismembered body at her feet took precedence. Although he hadn’t been officially identified, Reverend Sitwell was a well-known face, even to Toni who avoided the church yard if she had to. Toni had always suspected that he was an agent of SHIELD, the man having a look that was far too knowing even for a clergy man, and now, she supposed, it would mean his death had sense. She muttered a brief pray in her mind, and tightened her jaw and focused.

His body was slumped and dirtied a few feet before the head at her feet. Glasses smashed near his face, eyes still open and staring blankly. Lips white and parted. Jeez, Toni was going to have nightmares for weeks.

She glanced up at Steve, who stared down at the scene emotionless. “Have you seen something like this before?”

“Once,” Steve admitted blandly, “It was how I was recruited.”

“Was that neck wound cauterised too?” Toni wondered lowly.

“Yeah, it was,” Steve looked troubled and Toni shared those worries. It was like history rewriting itself. Toni kept herself strong and in control, she was an Agent, she had prepared for this, but god, standing there, with the body and police and all the evidence of what was coming – no, what was already /there/, it was just so real and so…terrifying.

“Look around,” she instructed, “See if there’s anything around that the Horseman could have left.”

Steve took to the order like the soldier he was, and Toni was pleased with that. As much as she liked a fight, she wasn’t sure she could take one right now.

Her eyes slide back to Sitwell’s head. She wanted to close his eyes, close his mouth, make it seem less grotesque, but her skin scrawled at the thought of touching and instead she straightened up and approached the body.

The garbs were traditional of the clergy, and a gold cross hung on a chain around his neck. Toni took in the mud smeared garbs, the rips at the ends of the robs and the bruises that would never heal on Sitwell’s hand. He had fought back. She could respect that.

Ignoring the young detective’s – new, how cute – stuttered attempts to get her to stop, Toni reached her hand quickly into each pocket. Nothing. She huffed and how unhelpful that was.

She looked up at the detective. “You. Where there any witness?”

The boy jumped, startled. “M-me?”

Toni didn’t bother resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Yes. You. Where there any witness?”

“Just one, um. The groundskeeper. He, uh, we’re not sure whether he can be trusted. What he said, it’s a bit-“

“What did he say?” she interrupted sharply.

“He said that the attacker had a metal arm and no head,” the boy burst out and there was no room for doubt.

“Shit,” Toni cursed.

 

*

 

Steve wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be looking for. He was used to taking orders and had accepted without even realising.  He thought about asking, Toni and Coulson were clearly more learned on this whole…Horseman thing than he had ever been, but the space between them had made him able to breathe easier and he didn’t want to rush back into suffocation.

He remembered the churchyard. It was an old building, had been standing like a grand monument since before Steve was born. He remembered running along the gravelled path as a child and Bucky daring him to climb the drain pipe. He had gotten half way up, fallen and broken his arm. His mother hadn’t been impressed but he had made a friend for life. Steve snorted fondly.

He had walked the same steps he walked now when his mother had died, polio, and he had watched subdued as her life was celebrated. His eyes began scanning the tombstones, hopeful for the familiar name. It had been decades since he had visited her, he could spare himself a few minutes for her. He passed the new headstones, seeming to sparkle and shine unlike the crumbled stone that made the older ones. Weeds had grown over them, uncared for and forgotten and Steve frowned unhappily at the thought.

A familiar name passed his vision and he stopped, suddenly. His chest tightened uncomfortably and each step felt like his shoe were made of lead, heavy and thudding in his ears.

He had known as soon as he had been told where he was, had known that time would still have worked even as he stayed the same, sleeping through it. He knew that everyone he knew, the people that he had fought with and worked with and loved, were dead. But this, seeing the evidence of it, seeing the proof of age, it just. He wasn’t sure whether he was ready for this.

Toni came up behind him but her voice was muffled. Her retelling of information trailing off into concerned questions. He didn’t answer, he couldn’t even if he knew what she was asking of him.

He was too busy staring at the letters that read PEGGY CARTER, and announced just how unimagined this all was.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment here or on my [tumblr](http://gladers.co.vu/)


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